


Zinnia

by TheHomestuckWhovian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A lot of things i cant tag for spoilers reasons, Gen, It plays a role in the story but it's not super relevant, MINOR Lukanette, Memory Alteration, Mind Manipulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:45:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: Ms. Bustier often felt like she was going insane, considering her class, but when all of the students have no memory of their now missing class representative one morning, maybe this is the moment she has finally lost it.Thankfully, she isn't the only one who remembers, and things get weird from there.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a weird story. Just go with it though, I have a plan and piles of salt that I want to use constructively and not a lot of time to waste.
> 
> ~~Pay no attention to the several stories I have yet to complete.~~

Caline Bustier didn't drink.

 _Ever_.

Many had interrogated her about it, from her early days in university to any family event she went to. But there was no trauma or problems in her life associated with alcohol. She simply didn't like the taste when she had been offered sips, nor did she particularly desire the sensation people drank alcohol to achieve. She was specifically attached to being as close to a functional human being as she could in a city where having negative emotions could result in you blacking out and waking up to find you had caused a zombie apocalypse because of a butterfly.

So no. Caline didn't drink.

But sometimes...sometimes she considered it.

And watching Lila and Chloé, both girls with such potential to be decent people who never seemed to take that step no matter how much she encouraged them, trying to pettily out class each other as they talked about what they did over break...it was enough to make anyone consider alcoholism as an alternative.

(Chloé's story was probably true. Caline had some doubt about Lila's, especially after Principal Damocles told her an entirely different story about the months Lila missed school due to "visiting Prince Ali", but that wasn't important.)

On top of this stand off, Marinette was later than she had ever been, and Caline had yet to receive a phone call from her parents about her being absent. This was...concerning, to say the least.

She needed to pull this class back onto the rails, preferably without making the conflict worse.

"Alright!" she finally called, drawing the class' attention. She needed to act quick before things went off the rails again. "I'm sure your vacations were both wonderful, but can you please save your discussion of them until after class?"

"Oh, of course Ms. Bustier," Lila spoke up, her voice sugary sweet and completely false (everything was fine, everything was _just fine_ ).

Chloé gave a scoff, clearly unhappy that she had been forced to stop (and Caline wondered sometimes why her kindness wasn't enough). "Fine. We all know my trip was better anyway."

She bit back an exhausted sigh as Lila made a face that looked like she was about to start something, before turning her attention to Alya. If she just left the two of them alone, they'd burn themselves out  ~~she hoped~~.

"Alya, could you text Marinette and see if she's okay?"

Alya blinked in surprise, tilting her head in confusion. "Huh?"

Caline's patience was running thin (everything was fine). "Could you text Marinette and see if she is okay?"

"...Who's Marinette?"

There was an uncomprehending moment before the exhaustion and irritation disappeared and her mind snapped into an intense clarity, and she realized what exactly Alya had just said and there was a sudden spike of panic.

"Ms. Bustier, are you feeling alright?" Adrien asked in his normal polite tone, tilting his head in concern.

She needed to remain calm. She needed to _remain calm_ , or else her class might start panicking about an akuma and she needed to keep them calm before she went to find out what was going on.

Deep breaths in and out. 

"Does anyone else not recognize the name Marinette?" she asked, keeping her voice as even as possible. The class all raised their hands, looking confused and concerned as they did, and Ms. Bustier took another deep breath.

This was bad. No, this was _akuma_ levels of bad. But her first priority was to keep her currently present students from panicking about an akuma, then she could investigate.

"Alright then," she said calmly, resting her hands on her desk so none of the students could see the way they shook as her mind spun with terrifying possibilities about what could possibly be happening. "Today during class, we will be reading the next chapter in our textbooks. Once you are done, I'd like you to work on the corresponding section in your workbooks."

Her students all gave her strange looks, but they all opened their textbooks reluctantly, leaving Caline time to grab her roll sheet and make sure she wasn't going crazy.

Marinette's name was there. She wasn't crazy. Marinette _existed_ and Caline  _wasn't crazy_. Her students just...didn't remember, so whatever akuma this was, they weren't capable of erasing Marinette from existence. Caline could work with that. She just needed to figure out as much as she could about the situation, then she could contact Ladybug and Chat Noir and fill them in.

She'd need to make a visit to the bakery after school first.

It felt like hours until the bell rang, and she took a deep breath to calm herself before calling, "Adrien! Could you stay behind for a bit please?"

Adrien blinked with surprise as the other students began to file out, before nodding hesitantly and approaching the desk. Caline waited for the rest of the class to leave before turning her full attention to him.

"Last Friday we were supposed to have your parent-teacher conference," she explained, and Adrien winced at the memory. "I understand your father is busy, but this meeting is important. Do you know the best day and time to reschedule for?"

"No," Adrien answered, looking dejected. "He's...he's always busy."

Caline knew that. She had been trying to schedule this darn meeting for  _months_. It had been a series of ignored calls, being put on hold for hours on end only to be told to call back later, and more conversations with Ms. Sancouer than she had ever expected to have. She had had all her other meetings months before Ms. Sancouer had finally told her that Mr. Agreste could make it on Friday at six in the afternoon, and then she and Adrien sat there for an hour only for no one to show up.

She was reaching her limit with this.

~~She was reaching her limit with all of this.~~

"Adrien, how often do you see your father in person?"

Adrien frowned at the question. "Uh...once every couple of days?"

 _Jesus Christ_. 

"I see." She pulled out a pad of paper and began writing a note. It was more passive aggressive than she usually was, but at this point she had no other options and her mind was currently much more focused on the actual emergency that was Marinette to care about how polite it sounded. "I'm scheduling another appointment for this Friday. Please give this note to your father. If he doesn't come to this meeting then I will need to involve Principal Damocles." She folded the note into thirds and handed it to Adrien.

"Okay." He looked skeptical, and truthfully Caline was pretty certain this wasn't going to work. But she had to try or what was even the point? 

"Good. Now, I look forward to seeing you both this Friday." She scribbled a quick note to Ms. Mendeleiev on the pad before ripping it off and handing it to Adrien. "Here's a note for your next class."

Adrien nodded, taking the excuse note before heading out the door, with only a brief, concerned glance as he left.

She leaned her elbows against her desk, her hands on her head as she tried to pull herself together.

This was clearly an akuma. It wasn't any of her students, because all of them except Marinette had been in attendance today and none of them had shown any signs of being anything other than completely real. Marinette had not arrived, meaning...meaning...

She didn't know what was worse, that she had been kidnapped or that she had also had her memory taken from her, maybe even  _both_. It was too horrifying to consider, and so Caline took a shaky breath and forced herself to think about something else.

She had to go to the bakery once it was lunch time and she could escape. She needed to know what the situation was there.

Just a few more hours until lunch, and then she could go.

 _Just a few more hours_.

* * *

This...was probably the longest school day Caline had had since she was a student herself.

She shoved the stack of papers she was supposed to grade into her bag once her students left for lunch (and she was pretty sure they were supposed to have homework tonight that she had completely forgotten, but screw it the day was already weird enough, they could have a break), and within minutes she was out the door and heading for the bakery.

How was she supposed to ask about this?

If they didn't remember Marinette, she was going to sound completely crazy to them. If they did remember Marinette, then they were going to be sent into a panic and that wouldn't help anything. She needed to figure out how to word it in a way that was completely innocuous, just to make sure that the question wouldn't be too strange to them.

Would they even remember who she was?

That...that was a big concern. Caline was only familiar with the Dupain-Chengs because of Marinette being one of her students. Still, the akuma's memory erasing hadn't been very clean, because Alya had sat in her usual spot, leaving a space for someone she hadn't remembered was supposed to sit there.

Whether it was this or because they remembered, when Caline opened the door Sabine looked up and gave her a bright smile. "Caline! It's been a while!"

She had been on first name basis with Sabine and Tom for a while, having been Marinette's teacher for a while and a frequent customer at the bakery as well. Maybe...maybe that meant...

"I thought I'd come by to grab some lunch," Caline said, forcing some cheerfulness into her voice. She needed to keep it casual, to make sure she kept everything under control. "Could I have a baguette sandwich and a couple of macarons?" She dug her wallet out from her bag and pulled out the money to pay for it.

"Of course!" Sabine went to the display case with a pair of tongs, pulling out the requested treats with a smile on her face and tucking them into a wax paper bag. "Is that everything?"

"Yes," Caline answered, bracing herself as she finally asked, "How is Marinette, by the way?"

Sabine blinked, her face falling into a confused frown. "Who?"

Dang it. This wasn't good.

"Sorry, I thought you knew her," Caline said, doing her best to hide her disappointment. "My mistake."

Sabine looked at her strangely, before shrugging. "You should introduce us to her sometime then. Any friend of your's is welcome here at any time."

She nodded and gave a weak smile. "Thank you, Sabine." She paid for her food and headed for the door, before pausing and looking back. "Tell Tom I said hi?"

Caline received a friendly, content smile as Sabine answered, "Of course, Caline. Come back soon!"

She went out the door and walked to the side of the building away from the windows, doing her best to keep herself calm as she stopped out of sight.

This was bad. It wasn't just the class, it was Marinette's own mother who had forgotten her. She didn't have any hopes that it would be any different with Marinette's dad, but...she had hoped that they would at least remember. It couldn't possibly just be her, right?

No...it couldn't be. It would make sense that whoever had erased the memories of Marinette had overlooked some people, and there was no way she was the only person who had been left out in the process. Besides, akumas always tried to gain attention at some point to lure Ladybug and Chat Noir out. Hawk Moth would probably pressure them into going out into the open soon enough.

And yet...she didn't want to leave this alone. There was something so wrong about this situation, she couldn't find it in her to just...go about her day, leave it for Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Whoever this akuma was, they had something against Marinette. And Caline didn't want to leave this alone when she was in danger.

She had to figure out what had happened.

But first, she needed to head back to school.

Breathe in and out. In and out.

* * *

She was heading into the building when she heard shouting, and it took her only moments to find the source.

"I can't believe you!" a familiar voice shouted, one that Caline recognized from both TV and her secondary classes. She rounded the corner to see Aurore Beauréal cornering Alya, looking absolutely furious. "After everything she's done for you, you just act like she doesn't exist! You can't even find it in you to be grateful!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Alya shouted back, standing her ground. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't get in my face when I haven't even done anything!"

"Haven't done anything?!" Aurore laughed. "Please! Marinette drops everything for your sake and you just completely ignore it! I told her she deserved better, but she still thinks you are worth the actual hell you put her through! I can't imagine a worse friend than you!"

She said Marinette's name.

 _She remembered Marinette_.

"Hey!" Caline called, moving forward to intervene before things potentially got physical and she had to take the girls to the nurse instead of getting a chance to talk to Aurore. "That's enough." She looked at Alya, saying calmly, "Alya, please excuse us."

Alya looked smugly at Aurore as she made her escape, while Aurore simply scoffed and crossed her arms. 

"I should have known," she remarked aloud, turning her fierce glare onto Caline. "Whenever there is an actual problem you just ignore it, but when someone is trying to deal with it you punish them."

"Aurore-"

But Aurore wasn't done. "You let Chloé get away with everything but when someone tries to do something about her then suddenly they are the one at fault. I told Marinette she should switch classes but she just-"

" _Aurore_." Caline's voice went stern, and Aurore finally went quiet, though her glare hadn't diminished at all. Which wasn't great, but Caline was fine with it. "Aurore, you are not in trouble and I am not punishing you. I need to talk with you about Marinette."

Her expression went downright venomous. "Oh, so now you care about your class representative."

Caline took a deep breath. Okay, so she wasn't exactly popular with Aurore. That was not important.

"No one seems to remember Marinette," she explained, meeting Aurore's eyes with a serious expression. "No one, not even Alya, not even her parents, but _you_ do. And I need your help to figure out what is going on."

Aurore's face blanched, her eyes going wide as the words sunk in. After a moment, she took a deep shaky breath, before nodding. "What...what do you want to know?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Marinette, I promise.
> 
> She just...won't be here for most of the story...
> 
> I promise my child will be okay...eventually.
> 
> Aurore is a character who deserves a lot better from the show, in that both of her episodes never really complete her arc. I hope to do her justice, but if you want some really good stuff featuring her I'd suggest [the Scarlet Lady au](http://zoe-oneesama.tumblr.com/tagged/scarlet+lady+comic) by zoe-oneesamma, which actually completes Aurore's arc during her chapter, or [Leave for Mendeleiev](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900039/chapters/42257252) by impunchlord, which she is a major character in.
> 
> I hope y'all are ready for what's essentially going to be one of the weirdest ideas I've ever put down in writing. Especially considering I never really intended to write for Ms. Bustier of all characters. But I am all for constructive salt being used to actually get characters to develop as people, and boy howdy I am completely unconvinced of Ms. Bustier being the amazing teacher canon wants me to believe she is.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll stick around for this story.


	2. Chapter 2

_"How was work?" Marinette asked Aurore as they met outside the studio that Monday._

_"Great," Aurore answered with a glowing smile. "Looks like sunny weather for the rest of the week. How do you feel about ice cream?"_

_"Sounds good to me. Just not Andre's stand?"_

_Aurore nodded in understanding. "Of course. There's a shop nearby that serves the best sundaes."_

_The two girls walked down the street, talking amiably about things that didn't matter much, before Marinette finally mentioned, "I'm glad things are going to be clear this weekend. I'm hanging out with a friend on Saturday."_

_"Alya?" Aurore asked, and Marinette shook her head._

_"No, I don't think you know him."_

_"Is it a date?"_

_She expected Marinette to say no, to deny the entire thing or bring up Adrien, but instead Marinette flushed slightly and said, "I...I don't know? Maybe?"_

_Aurore looked at her friend before grinning. "Well, you are going to have to tell me everything about him over ice cream."_

_The two went into the shop and ordered their sundaes, and Aurore then listened with a smile on her face as Marinette described the boy, lit up like a sunny day. It was so rare to see Marinette so...effortlessly happy, lately. Storm clouds had been building, and Aurore was relieved that they seemed to have cleared away._

_Marinette's phone beeped, interrupting her gushing, and she tugged it out of her pocket and read the message. "It's Alya."_

_Ah...Alya. Aurore did her best not to show her irritation with Marinette's "best friend" but...well...she couldn't help but be annoyed. She hadn't missed the way Alya seemed to be contributing to the stormy clouds around Marinette, but Marinette insisted that everything was fine and so she hadn't done anything._

_"Does Alya know about your date this Saturday?" Aurore asked, curious._

_Marinette frowned, gray clouds obscuring the sun. "Sort of? She...she knows I'm hanging out with him, but I didn't tell her that it might be a date."_

_"How come?"_

_She gave a sigh, propping her head up with her hand. "I mean, Alya is great and has been encouraging me to make a move on Adrien, but...but I don't know? Adrien is nice and great and stuff but it's hard. It's hard and he isn't interested, so...why am I still going after him? Why am I still putting myself through constant humiliation for someone who isn't interested? It's easier to pursue someone who I'm interested in who's also interested in me."_

_"I see." That made sense, and Marinette had given every indication she was interested in this other boy (and had she caught his name?). "What does this have to do with Alya?"_

_Marinette groaned. "It's just...I dragged Alya into my schemes so much. She got upset when I considered giving up on Adrien before, pushed me to keep trying. I think she's invested in me getting with Adrien, and I don't really want to let her down."_

_"But it's your love life," Aurore stated firmly. "Alya shouldn't have a say in it."_

_"Yeah, I know...so that's why I didn't tell her."_

_Aurore took a deep breath, before setting her spoon down and looking Marinette in the eyes. "Marinette, Alya is a hurricane. Whether she intends to or not, she washes away everything in her path with little care towards the damage that is caused. You care about her, and you believe you can take it, but you are just one person. Maybe it's time to evacuate until things calm down, put your well-being first."_

_Marinette looked at her for a moment before turning her gaze down to the table. "Aurore...she's my best friend..."_

_"Then she should understand more than anyone if you need a break." Aurore took a deep breath, trying her best not to let her personal bias against Alya influence this. "Marinette, when was the last time spending time with Alya made you happy?"_

_There was no response there._

_"Look, I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do, or pretend I know what is best for you. I won't pretend that I can say without a doubt that Alya isn't worth it, because she clearly is to you._ _I know you can handle yourself. But there is nothing wrong with putting yourself first. It's like I said about Ms. Bustier's class: you have the option to leave if you need to."_

_Marinette gave a weak smile. "Thanks Aurore."_

_"Happy to help." She wished she could do something more, but that was up to Marinette herself. Aurore couldn't force her to do what she personally thought was best. "Now, you were in the middle of waxing poetic about this boy?"_

_Marinette flushed and gave an embarrassed laugh. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"_

_"No, I think it's cute."_

_The two girls finished their melting ice cream eventually, before splitting off to head for their respective homes._

* * *

"And that was the last you saw her?" Caline asked, leaning forward onto her office desk.

Aurore gave a hesitant nod. "Yeah...I texted her Saturday night, asking how the date had gone, but she never replied. Then she wasn't at school and wouldn't respond to my messages and I went to talk to Alya and...I thought it was a cruel attempt at revenge at first, that maybe they had fought and Alya was lashing out by pretending she didn't exist."

Caline frowned, asking, "You really think Alya would do that?"

"...I don't think you want me to answer that question," Aurore said, her voice cold and angry. "If you want possible people that would have something against Marinette, Chloé and Lila seem to have it out for her."

"It's not them. They were accounted for in class today and neither of them remember her either."

Aurore frowned. "That's all I've got, really. People like Marinette, and the only people who don't like her are people who see her as a threat, and Marinette doesn't particularly like them either so it'd be obvious. Uh...there's this one girl who hangs around Adrien a lot, but since Marinette was getting more distant from him I don't think it's her."

"What about the boy she was meeting?" Caline asked. She didn't really want to consider that possibility, but she had heard enough horror stories from the news and from people she knew to know that it happened, and it could have happened here. Besides, this was an akuma, and even Rose had done some morally objectionable things when Hawk Moth had gotten her.

"...Marinette's a ridiculously good judge of character," Aurore pointed out, and Caline couldn't really argue that point because this was Marinette they were talking about. "I don't think it's him but...but it's possible? I don't remember if she mentioned his name or anything particularly identifying, but judging by what she said, the two were already pretty close, and she knew he was interested in her. All I can remember is that he isn't in your class, and he isn't in Ms. Mendeleiev's either because I'd remember that."

Caline looked down at her notes, and they felt hopelessly vague. A date with an unidentified boy, a conflict with her best friend, and her disappearance seeming to have occurred sometime between her and Aurore going their separate ways on Monday and the time Aurore texted her about the date Saturday night.

Still, it was more than she had had before, and that was another person who remembered Marinette, plus she had a lead on a potential akuma victim who could have targetted her. It was better than nothing.

"Thank you, Aurore. You're free to go."

Aurore stood and began to head for the door, before pausing and turning to face Caline again, her expression furiously determined.

"Keep me updated on this. Marinette's my friend and it's bad enough that I don't know what's happening. If you try and keep anything from me-"

"I'll inform you if I have any updates," Caline interrupted. "You'll be the first to know."

"...Good." With that, Aurore spun on her heel and hurried out of Caline's office, the door slamming shut loudly as she did.

She needed to do...something about that. It was alright if Aurore hated her  ~~no it wasn't she didn't want any of them to hate her~~ , but Aurore was the only help she had in this investigation, and Caline didn't like that there was a clearly a grudge being held there. Something needed to be resolved.

Aurore had been intending to get Marinette to transfer to Mendeleiev's class, meaning something was a problem in her class.

...Glancing at the bell, it looked like lunch was minutes from being over, and she needed to get back to her room to continue lessons for the day.

She hadn't even ate lunch.

* * *

The Cold War between Chloé and Lila continued.

Caline hadn't even noticed the whispering Lila had been doing during the day, so focused on the fact that one of her students was missing, but now after Aurore's remarks it felt as obvious as a flare going off.

Lila was...a delicate situation, to say the least. Principal Damocles had informed Caline that her mother was a diplomat to keep appeased, and thus they needed to keep her from going to her mother and complaining about the school. Most of her students appeared to like Lila, except for Chloé and Marinette, but Caline honestly considered her to be a bigger concern than Chloé.

She had no doubts that Lila knew how to control a narrative, as clumsy as she was at it, and in a power struggle against Chloé that was dangerous, but Caline had learned early on that she couldn't do anything and so she did her best to ignore the chaos brewing as she started class. 

"Um, Ms. Bustier?" Lila called from the back suddenly.

Caline had a bad feeling about this. "Lila, is this a question about the lesson today?"

"...No, but it's important," Lila whined. "Please?"

"Do you need to be excused?"

"No."

"Then please come talk to me after class," she answered, before turning her attention back to the lesson. Maybe if she didn't leave an opening, Lila wouldn't say anything.

She heard whispering in the background as she gave her lecture (oh god please no today was already hectic enough as it was), doing her best to ignore it despite the growing uneasiness, before it suddenly went blissfully silent for a moment.

Then Chloé exploded.

"You lying piece of trash!" Chloé shouted in a rage, bursting out of her seat and storming up to Lila. Sabrina and the surrounding students flinched, startled by the outburst.

Lila smirked (Caline could feel a headache coming on). "I'm only saying what Ladybug told me."

"You think I'm supposed to believe you!" Chloé shouted. "I've entertained your little ruse, but when you come after a bee you better be prepared to get stung."

"Chloé," Adrien attempted to speak up, but Lila stood and gave Chloé a confident smile.

"You think you are so special because Ladybug took pity on you and let you keep playing superhero after you proved you weren't right for the job. But Ladybug is my best friend and I know for a fact she told me that she thought you were better suited for working with Hawk Moth with all the akumas you cause. They should classify you as threat to Paris but your 'daddy' won't let them."

"Puh-lease, anyone with two brain cells knows you aren't actually friends with Ladybug," Chloé retorted. "You are just a sad pathetic liar who lies about having friends in high places to be special. If Ladybug likes you so much, how come she didn't make  _you_ a superhero?"

"Who said she hasn't?" Lila remarked, a smirk back on her face, and Caline could feel death approaching. Or maybe just exhaustion. She couldn't tell.

There was only one other female superhero in the city who appeared with any sort of regularity, and that was Rena Rouge, and Caline knew that Lila was basically very pointedly not claiming to be her but implying that she was. Personally, she didn't buy it, simply because Lila being friends with Ladybug was already clearly untrue, because she doubted Ladybug would have the patience to deal with someone who insulted her behind her back so often, and Lila wasn't someone to be trusted with the kind of superpowers Rena Rouge had.

Alya was staring at the scene in the back, her jaw slack. She stood up, heading for the aisle when Adrien grabbed her wrist and met her eyes, shaking his head. She scowled at him, but before she could do anything the bell (mercifully) rang.

Caline gave a sigh of relief. "Have a nice evening everyone. See you all tomorrow."

Within moments, the room was empty, and Caline sighed before rummaging through the bag, pulling out her yet to be graded papers.

...Nope. She couldn't focus on such a tedious task right now. Marinette was missing, Lila decided to make up a bombshell to drop on the class, and Caline Bustier had other work to do.

Shoving the papers back into her bag, she closed her eyes and thought carefully.

Aurore had said the boy was someone that wasn't in Caline or Mendeleiev's classes. Were there any students that were noticeably spending more time around her class?

Thinking on it, she could only think of one. Kagami Tsurugi was around a lot for someone not in her class, but she was not a boy nor did she seem particularly interested in Marinette, since her attention seemed focused on Adrien. From what she had seen, the girl seemed too straightforward to become an akuma like this, but considering Marinette had been interested in Adrien for a while, even if that interest was waning, she couldn't rule out a jealousy fueled akuma entirely there. She'd check and see if Kagami had been marked absent to her classes today, but her priority was trying to figure out who the boy was.

She knew that Marinette had been accounted for up to a couple of hours after the weather report on Monday. On that Saturday, Aurore had sent a text that Marinette hadn't replied to. Even if the boy wasn't the akuma, she could hopefully get information out of him...if he had his memories, that was...

If that lead ended up being a dead end, what was she going to do then?

No...she couldn't think about that right now. Right now, she had work to do.

* * *

Kagami had been to all her classes that day, perfectly punctual as always according to her teachers. There had been no strange behavior that they had noticed, so she wasn't the akuma then. Caline didn't know enough about the boy to ask around for him, so she finally sighed, accepting that she wasn't going to find any other information today, and headed out of the school, beginning the walk to her apartment.

Marinette had been missing since Saturday night  _at least_. Who knew what had happened to her in all that time? And the fact that the akuma hadn't shown their face was worse. They could be doing possibly anything.

Caline knew Ladybug and Chat Noir would stop the akuma. They always did. But this akuma was too quiet for her comfort, and Marinette had ended up on their chopping block.

She needed to find out what happened to Marinette, and soon.

Arriving at her apartment, she struggled with the lock for a few moments as usual before it finally surrendered and allowed her entry into her home.

It was a small apartment, to say the least. Caline lived alone and spent most of her time when she wasn't at school grading papers and working on lesson plans and then back-up lesson plans to account for akuma attacks. Most of her decoration was gifts from her students and books she hadn't had the chance to read yet. 

Caline set her bag down on the kitchen table, taking a deep breath before heading to grab her laptop from her room. Many of her students were active on social media. Maybe some Internet stalking would help? She had no idea if Marinette was, but it was better than nothing at this point.

She unplugged the laptop from the outlet by her bedside table, tucking it under her arm when she heard a quiet thud from the kitchen.

...That wasn't good.

She set her laptop down on her bed and grabbed the first half decent weapon she could find, which ended up being an umbrella from the floor. She held it up like a baseball bat and slowly crept out of her room, moving towards the kitchen to see a strange, bug-like...thing flying around, investigating the area.

"Stay calm, Tikki, stay calm," the bug thing muttered (It could talk?! And it had anxiety?!) in a soft, cutesy voice. "Just need to hang on and find Marinette. It'll be fine. It'll be fine."

...The heck was going on? Why did the creepy talking bug thing know Marinette? How had it gotten into her house? What was her life even at this point?!

The bug-thing turned as it flitted around, and Caline met a pair of huge blue eyes as the thing's expression turned into one of terror.

"...Oh no."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tikki is bad at hiding, tbh. There was no way she was going to hitch a ride with Ms. Bustier and not get found eventually.
> 
> So yeah, that was Chapter 2. A lot happened.
> 
> Also, Aurore's opinions of Alya do not reflect my own. Just getting that out there.
> 
> Okay, so real talk: I was hoping to have the Tikki reveal take place later, since it's kind of a big deal, but I got to a point where I realized Ms. Bustier would be stuck without some extremely good luck on her part, and I just couldn't figure out a way to continue her investigation without Tikki getting involved. 
> 
> Of course, Tikki isn't going to know all the answers (where's the fun in that?) but she's going to be a big help.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm hard at work on the next one, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

_This was not good._

_To be honest, those words had been repeating through her head since she woke around midnight on Saturday to find Marinette gone and the earrings dropped on the balcony._

_Marinette and her had agreed that if an akuma attempted to capture her, she'd drop the earrings to make sure Hawk Moth couldn't get them. Still, that hadn't made Tikki emotionally prepared for Marinette to just be...gone._

_She was already breaking their agreement, but what was she supposed to do? Plagg had told her that Chat Noir had no memory of Marinette at all, that he hadn't even been able to convince him that she was a person. How could Tikki convince him to go save a girl he didn't believe existed?_

_She should go to the Guardian. She should, but...but what if he had forgotten too? What if everyone had forgotten?_

_Marinette's parents had. When Tikki had returned, they hadn't even acknowledged she was missing, despite it being Sunday night. It wasn't just Chat Noir, and that was worse._

_There was no way the akuma knew who Marinette was. The earrings without her in them weren't even notable, and Tikki had been asleep under the pillow when the kidnapping happened, not visible to anyone. This was an attack on Marinette alone._

_She needed to do something. She needed to find her kid before something terrible happened._

_It was Monday afternoon when she had figured out her plan, and she was grabbing cookies and stuffing them in a tiny bag along with some other things when she heard Marinette's mom talking to a customer._

_"How is Marinette, by the way?"_

_Tikki nearly dropped her bag at the question, zooming as quietly as she could into the bakery to see Ms. Bustier at the counter, looking distressed and yet...not surprised_

_"Sorry, I thought you knew her. My mistake."_

_But why would Ms. Bustier remember? Was she also looking for Marinette? What all had she found out?_

_Tikki watched as she took her food and went out the door, watching for a moment before grimacing and phasing through the wall when Marinette's mom wasn't looking. It took her only a few moments to find Ms. Bustier's bag and slip inside with her own tiny bag._

_If Ms. Bustier remembered and was actively investigating, then Tikki needed to follow her. All she needed was an idea of who the akuma was or where they could be, and Tikki could get Chat Noir involved._

_This was the best chance she had._

* * *

Caline had certainly never expected to be sitting at her kitchen table, watching as a  ~~god~~   _kwami_ ate all her Oreos and explained how she had ended up in her apartment.

This was a being apparently as old as the concept of creation, and Caline was feeding her _Oreos_.

And then of course, there was _the realization_ , something she wasn't supposed to know and hadn't really wanted to know in general, but her brain had arrived at the conclusion as Tikki had explained why she had jumped into Caline's bag, because kwami of creation and good luck that looked vaguely like a stylized Ladybug spending her time with a girl with black hair and blue eyes who had special earrings Hawk Moth couldn't get, and there being a ladybug-themed superhero with creation and good luck themed powers and magic earrings that Hawk Moth really wanted all pointed to the inevitable conclusion.

Marinette was Ladybug.

 _Marinette_ , who was constantly tardy and exhausted from late nights she claimed she was working on a project, who was always absent during akuma attacks, who had changed seemingly overnight from the shy girl into a determined, confident person, was  _Ladybug_.

It made sense. Everything Marinette had been doing that had confused and worried Caline made _so much sense_ in context.

That didn't mean she wanted to know, especially not this way.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Tikki admitted, taking a bite of her fifth Oreo. "People who aren't holding our miraculous aren't supposed to know anything about us, and we can't even directly say the identity of anyone who uses any of them. But with people forgetting Marinette, I...I needed to bend the rules."

Caline took a deep, shaky breath. "It's...it's a lot..."

"It always is," Tikki answered with a shrug. "You seem to be handling it relatively okay though. I remember Jeanne d'Arc's reaction. She was pretty messed up about."

Caline blinked. "You mean...Jeanne d'Arc was...?"

"Yeah." Tikki nodded, smiling sweetly. "It was nice being called the voice of God for a while."

Caline stared at her for a bit, unsure what to say about that, before deciding that nope, she was not going to question it. This was definitely not relevant to the emergency going on, so she took a deep breath and focused on Marinette.

"No one forgot Ladybug," Caline pointed out. "Lila and Chloé both mentioned her in conversation earlier but they have both forgotten Marinette."

"Well, no humans knew Marinette was Ladybug except for one," Tikki explained. "And most magic and technology regards transformed holders as different people than their not-transformed selves, even though they aren't. Like when Sandboy happened, Chat Noir's civilian self had one worst nightmare and then he got another one as Chat Noir. The akuma would have to intentionally target both Marinette and Ladybug to make her be completely forgotten."

"And they didn't do a good job of it anyway." Caline muttered thoughtfully, thinking of herself and Aurore as she did.

Tikki nodded. "I don't know why you and Aurore weren't affected. Akumas are weird, and I don't know exactly what this one's powers are. We'll need to do some more investigating."

Caline pursed her lips, a thought coming to mind that she instinctually pushed away. "Alright. Just...I've got a few questions?"

"Ask away."

"...Who was the boy Marinette was planning on meeting Saturday?"

Tikki smiled brightly. "Oh, that was Luka Couffaine, Juleka's brother! He's a year older, so that's why you haven't seen him around much. He and Marinette were spending a lot more time together recently, and he's been really sweet to her."

...Huh. She had been aware that Juleka had a brother, as he had sat in on the parent teacher conference with Ms. Couffaine months ago, but she hadn't realized that Marinette and him were close. "Okay. Um...did anything strange happen Friday?"

It took a moment, and Tikki chewed on an Oreo thoughtfully as she thought about it. "There was...Marinette got a phone call that evening. She went up to her balcony to take it, so I didn't hear what was said. She...she didn't look happy when she came back down though."

"Do you know who called her?"

Tikki shook her head. "No. It was someone from her contacts, because Marinette doesn't answer calls from unknown numbers, but I don't know who it is."

Caline nodded slowly. So, someone Marinette knew had called her, and the phone call had upset her. Without the phone, they couldn't check the call history to figure out what exactly happened, and Caline wasn't prepared to break into the bakery to get it, so she'd call that a last resort.

Luka being a year above her students made things complicated. She wasn't as familiar with the students outside of her classes, especially students who weren't even in the same year. Finding him was going to be as hard as finding an excuse for why she needed to talk to him. 

Maybe she could get Aurore to do that, since Aurore wanted to be involved in the investigation, but she didn't know how to explain Tikki without revealing Ladybug's identity to her, and Caline knowing was already bad enough.

She had promised to keep her informed though.

"...Ugh." Caline dropped her head to the table as she groaned. "This is complicated."

"...Oreo?"

She took an Oreo with a sigh and contemplated alcoholism again.

* * *

Thankfully, Tikki didn't demolish the Oreos in one sitting, though she did eat roughly half of them.

Caline grabbed a ziploc bag the next morning and shoved a handful of Oreos into it, tucking it into her bag before turning to Tikki.

"You're sure you'll be fine with staying in the bag all day?" she asked.

Tikki smiled and nodded. "I'm used to it! Just..." She seemed a little shy suddenly. "Can I use your phone to play games? It helps with the boredom?"

Caline looked at the tiny being of creation and good luck that was staring at her with big blue eyes and sighed. "Passcode is 4864, I've got a few puzzle games that you can play." Then, as an after thought, she grabbed a pair of headphones and slipped them into the bag, just in case.

Wow. This was Marinette's life.

The walk to school was a quick, uneventful one, and Caline thought maybe everything would be fine until she heard shouting.

Shouting from her classroom.

 _Fun_.

She took a deep breath, before forcing a smile onto her face as she walked in.

"Alright class!" she called above the shouting (and of course it was Chloé and Lila,  _of course_ ). "Everyone take your seats! It's time for the lesson to start!"

Chloé and Lila glared at each other, huffing dramatically before returning to their seats, Sabrina looking tense as Chloé sat next to her with a scowl on her face.

Poor girl.

Caline started her lesson, mentally regretting allowing Lila to sit in the back where it was hard to keep an eye on her. Then again, sitting in the front had been a distraction for her, at least while she was sitting next to Adrien, and Nino and Alya had attempted to sit together which had distracted them, and Marinette had been moved to the back of the room which Caline had been a bit nervous about but she hadn't said anything. Her students wanted control over their seats, and Lila had "needed" to sit in the front, so she had decided to leave it be.

In hindsight, Lila's tinnitus was a lie, but the situation had resolved itself anyway. What more could she do other than try her best to check the back of the room occasionally?

( _A lot_ , a thought in the back of her head that sounded a lot like Ms. Mendeleiev muttered, but she didn't pay it any mind.)

Eventually, class ended, and her students all filed out. She could see a smirk on Lila's face and whispering between Chloé and Sabrina, but they were out of her room and not her problem anymore.

She had a while before Ms. Mendeleiev's class arrived, and she was about to let Tikki out for some fresh air when she heard talking outside her door.

"Alya, don't. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?!" Alya burst, sounding frustrated. "Adrien, she's manipulating the entire class, she literally tricked me into spreading misinformation on my blog, and yet you just want to leave her to do whatever! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"She...she won't get better if we expose her," Adrien stammered. "She's just going to end up akumatized. She's...she's not hurting anything."

Caline thought he had a point, but she didn't have much time to think on it before Alya spoke again.

"So...so that's it then." She sounded...quiet, but not calm. No, she sounded like she was almost shaking in rage. "You...you care more about her than your own friends. Than your best friend."

"That's not tru-"

"Bullshit." Alya didn't raise her voice once. "You are more concerned about her and how she'll feel when she's exposed than how Nino, your _best friend_ , felt when he realized that those directors she promised to introduce him to don't even know her name. You are more concerned about letting her get away with lying than the fact that that video of her on my blog is a fucking timebomb, and the moment the people who follow it realize that I posted complete lies in that video is the moment my legitimacy on that blog is finished. How long have you known she was a liar, Adrien?"

Adrien's answer was so quiet, Caline couldn't hear it. But Alya did, and she let out a bitter laugh.

"I...I could have deleted the video the day of? That's what you're telling me? You've known the _entire_   _goddamn time_ and you said  _nothing_?!"

"Alya, I-"

"No, fuck you Adrien. If I really mean so little to you that you'll put that dirty liar over me, then I guess I was wrong to ever consider you my friend."

Caline heard stomping down the hall, and she was about to step out and check on Adrien when she heard a sigh and footsteps away from the door.

...Jesus Christ.

"Alya figured out the lies," Tikki remarked plainly as she zipped out of the bag, moving to hover beside Caline.

"...I didn't realize Lila had been on Alya's blog?"

Tikki grimaced. "Yeah, it was bad. It was an entire interview where she lied about being close friends with Ladybug. Marinette tried to tell Alya, but Alya just thought she was jealous of Lila hanging off of Adrien and dismissed the whole thing. I don't know if Adrien telling her would have even  _worked_. She's stubborn like that. But...he should have at least tried?"

"How was Marinette with the whole thing?"

"...Not good," Tikki explained, frowning. "She nearly got akumatized after the seating situation, and then Lila was threatening her, saying she was going to turn the whole class against her and make her be alone. Adrien told Marinette to just leave it alone and let Lila go on, just like what he was trying to get Alya to do just now. He said as long as the two of them knew, it was fine."

Judging by the expression on Tikki's face, Caline guessed that hadn't worked out.

"So Marinette was Lila's main target?" she asked.

"Yeah. Marinette knows Jagged Stone personally, and even when Adrien had convinced her not to do anything, she wasn't exactly pretending to like Lila. She was a threat to Lila's story, and people like Lila don't just leave threats alone to cause trouble."

Caline bit her lip. She...she hadn't realized Lila had already caused so much trouble.

Was there anything she could even do at this point?

"Honestly, if Lila hadn't been in class, I'd have assumed it was her," Tikki added. "But even if she was, she's bad at subtlty. She would have shown her hand by now."

Caline nodded, propping her head up up in her hands. Whoever this akuma was, they were subtle, working from the shadows instead of attempting to draw attention to themselves. Whatever their plan was for getting Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous, they were likely not going to be flashy and destructive like usual. The only advantage they had was that the akuma likely didn't know they had Ladybug, albeit untransformed. Still...it was odd, that Hawk Moth hadn't pushed them to accelerate whatever plan this was. By all accounts, Hawk Moth seemed...pushy, and at the very least incredibly impatient.

Unstoppable force meets unmoveable object, she mused, a thin smile on her face at the thought. Winner to be determined.

"We need to find some way to get in touch with Luka," Caline noted aloud. "How are we going to go about it though?" Aurore was her best bet, but how could she tell Aurore about finding out about Luka without outing Marinette.

"Um...Ms. Bustier?" Tikki spoke up, and Caline turned to see Tikki holding up her phone, open to a page about...oh!

"Tikki, you're a genius!" Caline took her phone, seeing the picture of Kitty Section and Marinette from the online article. And there, next to Marinette, was a boy with blue hair that the caption said was named Luka Couffaine.

She had her excuse.

* * *

As the bell rang, Caline quickly called, "Aurore, could you stay behind for a moment after class please?"

Aurore blinked for a moment, before nodding firmly as she packed her things. As thexrest of the class filed up, she approached the desk.

Caline tugged her phone out of her pocket and scrolled to the picture, asking, "Does this boy next to Marinette fit the description she gave you?"

"...Yes!" Aurore grinned. "Of course, she had been going on about Kitty Section and their success for weeks, but I should have known she had a thing for him. She talked of him very fondly."

Caline gave a relieved smile. "This is Juleka's older brother, apparently. Unfortunately, I don't have any classes with him, and attempting to find him outside of class wpuld be difficult. Would you be willing to talk to him, see if he remembers and, if he does, if he knows anything?"

Aurore nodded, her expression serious. "Of course. I can report back to you with whatever I find."

"Thank you, Aurore."

"No need to thank me. I'm doing this for Marinette."

Aurore hurried out of the room, and Caline let out a relieved sigh.

Hopefully this lead wouldn't be a dead end.

Hopefully...

Caline smiled as her class filed into the room, not noticing the flash of blue across the rooftops in the distance.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh boy.
> 
> Let me just say, I am...annoyed. So annoyed. The last few episodes have just proven that I needed to continue this story, because the writers have been treating my girl like garbage for fuck's sake what the hell.
> 
> Constructive salt. That is my intention. That is what I'm doing.
> 
> ...Oh boy.
> 
> This is why you can't trust grown men to write a "girl power" show.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was me giving up on the Caline-exclusive-except-for-flashbacks POV, because I quickly realized that trying to do this story only from her POV is hard when Aurore is a major player in the investigation and, as a teacher, Caline wouldn't have the same opportunities to investigate that Aurore would have, even with the advantage that Tikki gives her.
> 
> Plus, I had two other major perspectives here to give some important context we'll need for the story going forward.
> 
> Also, some creepy mental manipulation shit goes down in the last section. The section starts with "Alya was disappointed she missed Ladybug..." and goes to the end of the chapter.

Aurore believed that Marinette had sharp instincts and was a good judge of character. Part of the reason she was...unimpressed with Alya was because Marinette's supposed best friend didn't trust her judgement, didn't  _trust her_ and nope, Aurore wasn't going to go there now.

The point was, if Marinette said someone was bad, Aurore listened. If Marinette believed someone was good, Aurore listened. Alya and surprisingly Adrien were the only exceptions because it felt Marinette was trying to convince herself that they were still worth it despite evidence to the contrary. Marinette wanted to trust them, so Aurore wouldn't ruin that for her, but she wasn't going to like them.

(Boy, Aurore was glad that crush on Adrien never went anywhere. She really felt bad for Kagami, getting strung along by a boy who didn't realize the damage he was causing, but she didn't want to be in her place.)

Everything Aurore had heard from Marinette about Luka had been exceptionally positive. In fact, Marinette's only complaint appeared to be her worrying that he wasn't being honest with her when he was upset. 

" _He's...he's been so supportive of me when I'm dealing with issues. I want to be there for him too._ "

Yeah, Aurore should caught on to the crush  _ages ago_.

As she walked through the halls, she wondered if Luka was even going to remember Marinette. She wanted to be optimistic, especially considering she and Ms. Bustier both remembered, but the criteria for who was skipped by the akuma was not yet defined and Aurore couldn't forecast his reaction to her bringing up Marinette. 

Alya's reaction was not a good benchmark, as Aurore had admittedly lashed out when it seemed like an awful revenge tactic, thus escalating the situation unnecessarily.

Though, Aurore did intend to do some prodding even if he didn't remember. She wanted to know as much about how this Marinette-centered amnesia worked, how people would respond to obvious holes where Marinette should be, etc.

One thing many people forgot was that meteorologists were not simply pretty faces for a camera. They were scientists, who made a living out of noticing and interpreting patterns. Aurore was not simply a sunny smile to bring in views, and if she couldn't find Marinette herself then she would make sure to find what patterns she could. If she could figure out how this akuma's powers worked and who all they had effected, that could only help their search to find them. Hopefully.

Technically, the grade above Aurore had lunch at a different time, occurring while her grade was busy with their last class before lunch. _Technically_ , Aurore was supposed to be in art class.

Marinette would not be happy to learn Aurore skipped class for her sake, especially considering how much Aurore had had to struggle just to get her grades back up to decent, but it was an emergency and Marinette's life was more important than her attendance for one class on one day. Besides, it would be easier to grab Luka for  ~~interrogation~~ gentle prodding during his lunch period than attempting to drag him out of class.

Luka was found not in the courtyard where most students ate lunch, but on the outside steps of the school, holding a guitar in his hands and yet not playing it. He seemed...somewhat tense, though Aurore couldn't be sure. His body language seemed apprehensive, even if his expression seemed perfectly trained to give almost no indication of how he felt.

No wonder Marinette had worried about him. Aurore got the feeling he didn't really let loose often.

"Hello," she greeted, sitting on the steps beside him, her umbrella resting beside her. He looked at her, expression still unmoving, and she noticed the way his fingers fidgeted on the neck and surface of the guitar, itching to play and yet not making a sound. "I'm Aurore."

"Yeah," Luka noted, glancing at her with a suspicious expression. "I've seen you on TV. You're the weather girl."

Aurore looked at him, noting his body language screaming out that he was not in a good mood, and decided it was best to make this quick.

"Well, nice to see you recognized me," she remarked. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something, though I guess I should probably start with if you know who Marinette Dupain-Cheng is?"

He froze for the briefest of seconds, his head whirling around to face her, and his calm mask completely fell away.

"You remember Marinette?" he asked, looking panicked. "Do you know if she's okay? We were supposed to meet on Saturday but she never arrived or answered when I called or texted her and I tried to talk to Juleka and Alya and neither of them remember her or would listen to me when I insisted she existed and I...I thought I was going crazy..."

... _Holy shit_.

He winced as he realized he had spooked her with the way he had erupted at the mention of Marinette. "Sorry. I...I'm not really good at this. Do you...do you know where-"

"No," Aurore admitted, shaking her head. "We're...Ms. Bustier also remembers. We're both investigating, but...we don't know where she is right now. Marinette...she told me she was going to meet with you on Saturday. We were hoping you might know something?"

He shook his head, looking at his guitar for a moment before beginning to put it away, likely seeing playing it as a lost cause. "She...she never met up with me. The last I saw her was Friday afternoon during Kitty Section's rehearsal."

Aurore blinked. That was definitely after when she had seen Marinette. "Can you tell me what happened?"

* * *

Caline's smile hadn't ended up lasting long.

No, it hadn't ended up lasting long because Lila had said something to set off Chloé, and the two girls were now having a screaming match about god-knows-what.

Rose had her hands pressed against her ears, trying to block the noise after her attempt to get them to calm down got both of them glaring at her. Ivan looked about to stand up and shout along with them, but only Myléne beside him seemed to keep him from doing so. And Alya...Alya had a murderous glare directed towards both girls when she wasn't scribbling in a journal in front of her.

Caline could feel the headache pushing and pressing against her skull, the harsh, unfriendly voices unraveling her patience and threatening to crack her skull open.

Surprisingly, it wasn't her skull that broke first.

Even more surprisingly, it was  _Sabrina_.

"Stop!" Sabrina shouted, her voice upset, and for a brief moment it was all mercifully quiet. "Chloé, it's not worth it! Let's just get back to cla-"

"Oh shut up, Sabrina!" Chloé turned against her faster than Caline could have expected. "If you aren't going to support me, then you can leave. I couldn't care less."

"It's rude to get involved in someone else's business," Lila added, and Caline frowned. You'd think Lila would have tried to empathize with Sabrina to get her on her side instead of alienating her like that. Instead, she just seemed to be pushing Sabrina even farther to the breaking point.

"But..." Sabrina's eyes were wide. "C'mon Chloé. This isn't helping anything. She's just trying to-"

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Chloé shouted, and Sabrina let out a squeak. "It sounds like you aren't being a very good friend right now, Sabrina. Honestly, if it weren't for you handling my homework, I would have dropped you ages ago. Now shut up or we're through."

Sabrina's eyes began to water, and Caline felt shocked by the display. Before she could do anything though, Alya was on her feet.

"Leave her alone!" Alya shouted, furious. "She's only been helpful to you the entire time I've known her, and you always treat her like garbage! Stop acting like a jerk!"

"This doesn't concern you, Césaire."

"Oh hell no! Don't give me that lame excuse when you and Lila started a screaming match when we're trying to have class! You made it concern us!" Alya then whirled around, her attention suddenly on Caline. "Why are you just standing there?! You're the teacher! Do something!"

Caline, on the spot, stammered. "I...Alya-"

"So that's just it, isn't it?"

Everything stopped, and everyone turned to see Sabrina still standing there, staring at the floor with her fists clenched at her sides.

"I...I did so much for you. I did your homework and I carried your things and I played superheroes with you. I stuck with you even after you tried to get my dad fired."

Sabrina looked up, and everyone recoiled at the blue outline glowing around her tear-filled eyes and the vicious expression on her face.

"Did you know how scared I was? Did you know I was terrified that he wouldn't be able to find another job, that we'd lose our home? That we'd go broke and have nothing? And what for? A stupid goddamn bracelet!"

"Sabrina-" Adrien began, but he went silent as Sabrina turned her glare over to him.

"Be quiet," she insisted, her voice dark and cold and furious. "You're good at that. You've been good at that for years." Adrien's eyes went wide as Sabrina turned back to Chloé.

"Why can I never be good enough for you? Why can I never just be friends with you without having to do something? Why...Why do I even put up with you?!" She began to shout. "Why can't you just treat me like a fucking  _person?!_ I'm not your servant!"

"Sabrina, stop." Chloé's voice was cold and unsympathetic. "This isn't funny. Just crush the stupid object and let Ladybug fix this."

Sabrina stood there for a moment, then gave a bitter laugh.

"No," she said simply, her expression cold and angry, and Caline looked at the students in the classroom and gestured for them to move, to head for the door before- "You don't get to tell me what to do _anymore_!"

In that moment, a giant blue and purple spider formed out of dark, bubbling energy behind Sabrina, and it let out a terrifying shriek that sent the room into a panic.

"Everyone, run!" Caline shouted, and Adrien was the first one out the door, several other students close behind him. Caline didn't follow though, instead moving to pull Chloé and Lila out of the way as the spider monster lunged at them.

"Sabrina!" she called to the girl, who was frozen in shock at the monster in front of her. Before she could say anything, the monster turned to her and let out another shriek, and the floor beneath her began to glow blue.

Shit.

Caline grabbed the wrists of Lila and Chloé and ran, listening as the floor crumbled where they had been standing only moments before as she pulled both girls into the hall.

"Split up and hide," she ordered both of them. "I'll try and keep the monster distracted."

"Why should I listen to you?" Lila argued, and Caline felt like she was going to scream out of frustration. "It's not me who the monster is after anyway. I'm a  _victim_."

"Hey, don't talk to Ms. Bustier like that, you cow!"

"Did you just call me a-"

The monster slammed against the doorway, letting out another shriek, and both girls let out terrified screeches at the scare.

"Run!" Caline shouted, and this time her students remembered their self preservation instincts and listened, racing off in different directions as fast as they could, leaving Caline alone with the monster, who was slamming into the doorway repeatedly in an attempt to break through.

She was still wearing her bag over her shoulder, she realized quickly, and she rummaged through it, wrapping her hand around something before pulling it out just as the wall around the doorway crumbled in blue light.

The monster stepped towards her, letting out a dangerous growl, and Caline flicked the trigger to the side and pressed down, spraying the monster in all of its eyes with pepper spray. The monster recoiled, shrieking in pain, and Caline backed up slowly as it lashed out in pain for a few moments before fixing its gaze on her.

Now was probably a good time to run.

She bolted, racing down the stairs to the courtyard. The steps began to glow blue as she ran down, and she only barely had her feet on the ground before they crumbled to dust.

She turned, watching as the monster hesitated at the edge now the stairs were gone. She felt momentarily victorious, until the monster jumped, shaking the ground as it hit it.

This may have been a bad plan.

Before anything could happen, Chat Noir dropped in front of her, taking a heroic stance.

"I'd challenge you to a game of I Spy, but I don't think it'd be fair," he joked, before glancing at Caline. "Get out of here and hide. I can handle this."

Caline nodded and hurried to the teacher's lounge, shutting the door behind her roughly.

"Oh no," Tikki muttered, zipping out of Caline's purse and flying around the room anxiously. "This is bad. This is very very bad."

"What's going to happen when Ladybug doesn't show up?" Caline asked, a little panicked herself. There had never been an akuma that Ladybug hadn't shown up to before, but Marinette was Ladybug and Marinette was missing and that meant Chat Noir was going to be alone.

"Without Ladybug, Chat Noir can't purify the feather," Tikki explained, zooming right up to Caline's face as she did. "I don't know if Plagg told Chat Noir...all Chat Noir can do right now is Cataclysm, but if he does that to the feather then...then Duusu..." Tikki started frantically flying around again, mumbling to herself.

Caline blinked. "Duusu? Who's Duusu?"

Tikki stopped suddenly. "Duusu..." Her voice was quiet and sad, almost mournful. "She's...she's the Peacock Miraculous' kwami. She and Nooroo disappeared years ago." She sounded sniffly. "The...the akuma and the feathers are extensions of Nooroo and Duusu respectively. If Chat Noir uses Cataclysm on the feather, then it'll hurt Duusu."

"...Oh."

"Duusu and Nooroo...they can't help it. If they are ordered to help, then they  _have_ to." Tikki shuddered, sounding ill as she discussed it. There was a shriek in the distance, and Caline could hear Chat Noir's shouting, though she couldn't understand what he was saying. "They...Hawk Moth and Mayura can do whatever they want to them. That's the price we have to pay, just to interact with people. Whoever has our stones can do what they want to us. "

"That's...that's horrible." Caline couldn't even imagine being cruel enough to knowingly hurt someone, especially someone like Tikki.

"There's got to be something we can do!" Tikki cried, before she suddenly stopped in midair. " _Oh_. I have an idea. But...it's possibly dangerous."

Caline grimaced. "Alright. What do I have to do?"

"I...I can purify the feather and fix the damage by myself. But...but _you'll_ have to break the object, without getting the monster or Mayura's attention."

That...that was deceptively simple, which told her that she was less likely to come out of thus unscathed. Not to mention that she had no idea where Sabrina was, and that she'd be doing this alone. The entire prospect of what she would be doing, of running back out there, was terrifying.

But Ladybug wasn't coming, and Tikki couldn't do it alone.

"Okay. I'll do it."

This was probably going to be a disaster.

* * *

Sabrina was distantly aware that she was hyperventilating. But that was buried beneath panic and fear and oh god, she just sent a monster after her best friend.

It was just...she wanted Chloé to listen to her! For once! Sabrina knew what Lila was doing, she knew that Chloé was playing right into her hands, but Chloé wouldn't _listen_.

She hated it. She hated that even after everything, Chloé still saw her as lesser. She hated that Chloé made her feel like she _was_ lesser.

She hated that, not once, had Chloé  _ever_ apologized. Not when she nearly got Sabrina's dad fired. Not when she got Sabrina akumatized. Not when she declared herself a superhero and good and noble and-

"Sabrina!" She heard Ms. Bustier's shout from her hiding place. "Sabrina, where are you?"

She couldn't help the small spike of anger at Ms. Bustier's voice.  _Now_ she cared. Not when Chloé humiliated her. Not when she had been doing all of Chloé's work for her. Not when she needed someone to help her at her lowest points. Ms. Bustier only cared when she was in trouble.

No one cared about Sabrina, and she hated them for it.

She heard the monster shriek again, but it was suddenly closer. She covered her mouth with her hand, horrified as she quickly realized what was happening.

The monster...it was created from her. And when she got angry-

"Sabrina!" Ms. Bustier called, panicked. "Sabrina, it's not safe here! We have to-" Her calls were cut off by a scream, and Sabrina's whimper was muffled by her hand.

This was her fault.

Ms. Bustier was going to be killed and it was all Sabrina's fault.

She was so stupid.

Ladybug...where was Ladybug? Ladybug would fix it. All Sabrina had to do was hide and wait...

But, somehow, she couldn't.

Sabrina took a shaky breath, wiping her face with her sleeve. She could hear Ms. Bustier calling for her still, her voice threaded with panic, getting closer along with the screeching of the monster.

The monster's cries reminded her of Chloé when she was pissed off, and Sabrina couldn't help her snort at the thought.

A monster, just like Chloé.

She carefully crawled out from under the desk, and she could hear Ms. Bustier's footsteps as she ran, followed closely by the sound of crumbling concrete and metal. She'd have to be fast, but...

But Sabrina didn't want to be afraid anymore.

The moment Ms. Bustier was past the door, Sabrina stepped outside and stood before the monster, holding her hand out and shouting, "Stop!"

The beast skidded to a halt, all eight eyes fixed on her hand. Sabrina's other hand shook, and she waited for a moment. But the monster did nothing, just stared at her almost expectantly.

She took a shaky, laughing breath. "Good girl." Did these weird monsters have gender? She didn't really know, but girl was her first instinct and the monster knelt down, looking almost...excited.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced up to see Mayura chasing Chat Noir on the roof, before pausing and looking at her. Sabrina...she could still feel the mental connection that had been made. Mayura couldn't see through her eyes, but she could tell that Sabrina was watching.

Sabrina gave a devious smirk, realizing, in that moment, the biggest difference between Hawk Moth and Mayura's powers.

Let the hunter become the hunted.

"Get her," Sabrina ordered, and she could sense more than see the way Mayura's eyes widened as the monster let out a screech before running and taking a leap towards the roof.

_What are you doing?!_

_"_ _No one is going to use me_ ever again _,"_ Sabrina thought back, and she watched as the monster gave chase, Chat Noir staring for a moment before breaking out into a run after the supervillain and the minion. He probably hadn't been expecting that.

Then, she was forcefully turned around by a frazzled Ms. Bustier. "Oh thank God, you're alright. Just...what were you thinking?! You could have been hurt! There was no way you could have known-"

"The monster's mine," Sabrina said quietly interrupting Ms. Bustier's frantic tirade, before taking a deep breath and looking her teacher in the eyes. "Mayura didn't think of that."

Ms. Bustier stared for a momeny, before wordlessly tugging Sabrina into a hug, the gesture not matching her words as she sternly insisted, "Never do that again."

Sabrina nodded, returning the gesture hesitantly before Ms. Bustier released her.

"Do...do you know what-"

She gave another nod. "Yeah."

She unpinned the brooch from her chest, looking at it for a good long moment. Chloé had given it to her after she had been akumatized the first time, the only real gift Chloé had ever given her. Sabrina had thought that meant she'd change. She had ended up disappointed instead.

Chloé would never change, would she?

Sabrina threw the brooch to the ground as hard as she could and slammed her foot down on it, the gesture so sudden and violent that Ms. Bustier flinched. The black feather floated up from the broken brooch, and Sabrina stared at it.

"What...what are we going to do with it?" she asked, realizing that Ladybug wasn't there yet. "We need..."

"I'll handle it." And before Sabrina could say anything, a small red blur zipped from Ms. Bustier's bag and caught the feather.

"Wha-Tikki!"

"There's no time to send her away before Mayura notices us. And I trust Sabrina more than I trust Mayura." The soft, high-pitched voice came from the red blob, which looked like a weird fairy bug thing. There was a flash of pink light and the fairy bug released a pure white feather, surprising Sabrina.

Wait, a red fairy bug thing, with Ladybug's powers? What was-

Suddenly, an explosion of ladybugs burst from the strange creature, enveloping Sabrina in swirls of red and black and pink. She watched with confused amazement as the ladybugs spiraled around her before flying down the halls.

That was always really cool, but she didn't understand. Why-

Then, it was like something snapped into place in her mind, lost puzzle pieces found and placed in the correct spots. Suddenly Ms. Bustier's comments the day before made sense, suddenly Sabrina was struck by all the things that were wrong, all because of a girl who was supposed to be there. With the context returned, she wondered how the hell she hadn't noticed.

"Marinette," she whispered, horrified as she realized she had forgotten, and she noticed Ms. Bustier flinch beside her.

"You...you remember!" She looked ecstatic. "Of course! When Tikki fixed the damage, she took away the akuma's effects!"

Sabrina shook. That...that explained why no akuma showed up. There was already an akuma out there, and akuma that had made her forget Marinette. Marinette was out there. An akuma had gotten to her, or maybe she _was_ -

Then everything went white.

* * *

Alya was disappointed that she missed Ladybug as the wave of healing energy washed over the school, fixing up the damage and swirling around her before shooting off. Oh well, she should probably go find Marinette and-

And it was like a bomb going off.

Marinette. Her best friend. Her goofy, amazing, ridiculous, badass best friend. And she had forgotten her. She had forgotten everything and...

And Marinette had been right. Marinette had been right about everything, and Alya hadn't  _listened._

Alya let out a sob as it hit her. Her best friend had been gone for days, and the last thing she had said to her had been awful. Was this her fault? Was it her fault that this had happened? She should have listened, she should have been a better friend, she should have not been selfish for once, she should have kept her mouth shut. Alya should have done so many things, but she had been so  _stupid._

She had lashed out at Adrien for being a bad friend, but had she been any better?

She had to find Marinette. She had to fix this. She had to-

Her vision went white, and Alya was standing in the courtyard, her eyes filled with tears and her lungs struggling to pull in a proper breath as she sobbed.

Why was she crying? What had made her so sad that she broke down? For a moment, she was seized with panic at the sudden, overwhelming emotions she had no context for, but before she could dwell on it a thought occurred to her.

**It's not important.**

And, in an instant, Alya was calm, the tears running dry in less than a second. Her mind quickly turned to other things, unable to focus any longer at the strange and mysterious break down she had had, filing it away so effectively that she forgot about it almost instantly. Yet it didn't bother her as she began to head out of the building, her mind shifting to other topics so quickly that, by the time she got home, she forgot she had even cried.

There was no reason for this to bother her. There was nothing missing. 

 _It wasn't important_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes about this chapter:  
> * Originally, the whole chapter was going to be from Aurore's POV, but ultimately everything after the first section didn't meet my standards, so we'll get the information she gathered later.  
> * Again, the opinions of the characters do not reflect mine. I actually like Alya and Adrien and feel that they have been done dirty by the writing of the show, and all my issues with their characterization will be addressed as the story progresses, though they will not be the focus.  
> * Meteorology is a science, and Aurore has an interest in the weather and stuff. Thus, consider: scientist Aurore  
> * Luka is very awkward. Looking at his first interaction with Marinette for research purposes, he clearly struggles with social interaction in that he doesn't know what's acceptable between people who've just met (ie. making fun of Marinette's stutter and instantly regretting it the moment he sees that she doesn't appreciate the teasing).  
> * I promise I will explain why all these seemingly random people remember Marinette.  
> * Sabrina, in part, blames Adrien for the fact that Chloé got away with mistreating her for so long once she has enough. In her eyes, if Adrien had stood up for her, maybe Chloé would have stopped.  
> * Of course, Adrien isn't to blame for Chloé's terrible treatment of Sabrina, but he enabled it due to his own personal issues when it comes to standing up for himself and others after his father's emotional abuse.  
> * Sabrina is at an emotionally vulnerable point here and Adrien trying to calm her down after everything set her off a bit, especially since she didn't really want to calm down.  
> * Again, Sabrina's opinions don't reflect my own.  
> * Headcanons! Glorious headcanons involving the peacock and butterfly miraculous. Why Chat Noir doesn't just cataclysm the butterflies/feathers!  
> * I did not intend Sabrina to play a big role, but part of the intentions of the story are to give side characters much needed exploration and development, and so I decided "fuck it" and gave her a bigger role in the story.  
> * Also, I struggled so hard with how to get Tikki to purify the feather without Sabrina watching, before giving up and just letting Sabrina see. There was no way to avoid Sabrina seeing Tikki without some serious Deus ex Machina bs happening. The only person I could see maybe showing up at that moment is Chat Noir, and he's busy.
> 
> I literally had so many thoughts about this chapter, and it took an almost complete rewrite and three additional perspectives to get it to any state that I approved of. The sentimonster stuff was supposed to last another chapter, but I decided to resolve it in this chapter because I'm bad at action stuff.
> 
> Sorry this chapter took so long. I just moved into a new apartment and my second year of college started this past week, plus my apartment won't have wifi for a while so I had to finish this chapter on my phone.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please share your theories and such, because I love reading them and seeing how close you all get. Have a good day/night!

**Author's Note:**

> Zinnias, as flowers, mean remembering an absent friend.
> 
> Yes, almost every single story I have online where memories and amnesia are a theme have flower titles.


End file.
